Is unraid right for me or would I be better off with WHS?

[shinyunraid]

I am currently planning out dropping cable and going with xbmc htpcs and a NAS running sabnzbd/couchpotato/sickbeard.

 

What I am currently working on is the NAS solution. 

What I am trying to figure out is how realistic is an unraid server also running the services I listed above. 

Would it be easier/better to just use WHS and install those as I am familiar with?

 

I have very very little linux experience and while I can follow instructions I get lost sometimes.

 

From what I am reading as a storage solution unraid is almost incomparable for what I would be using it for.  However, I don't know how complicated things may get if I want to run other services on the same server.

I assume for WHS it would be almost as if its just another windows computer, which I am familiar with.

An alternative would be to use unraid and just run those services on one of my other computers that has windows on it and point the download folders to the unraid server.

 

Sorry if I am missing some key information.  This is all pretty new to me.

 

 

[Chris Pollard]

There are good guides to achieve what you want,  or if you pick one of the newer v5 beta releases (5beta8 or newer) then I think there are user built and supported plugins for sab, sickbeard and couchpotato.  You will also find the user support community on these forums second to none (imho )

 

Usually the most difficult hurdle with unRAID is choosing your hardware.  If you are re-using old hardware then give the free version a go and see if it works.

[shinyunraid]

I am most likely going to use old hardware at least to start with.  Sounds like things will only get easier.  And yes from what I have been reading the community here is a big factor in unraid.  I feel like there will always be others looking for the same thing I am.

 

Right now the computer that I have extra to use is really old and doesn't even have sata ports.  Is there any way to mount a usb drive and while not have parity or anything be shared with the network?

 

Thanks for the reply.  Sorry about random questions just asking as they pop up.

[daniel.boone]

I have 2 xbmc mini htpcs and they work great with great with unRaid. Just I've kept add ons to a minimum.  I basically run all my apps off a windows box and I've done like this for some time.

 

I can tell you unRaid runs great on old hardware but the par and rar tools won't. My windows box drags when it running those tools and it has a duo with 4GB of ram. Not a high end system but it's no slouch either.

 

Now this doesn't mean you can't work with you old board just be prepared to shut down add ons when watching movies. I'm sure you'd experience judder if you don't take precautions.

 

Sorry If I don't answer your USB question. I'm not exactly sure what your asking. You can manually mount any drive including a USB drive and there are add ons that automate the process in unRaid.

[shinyunraid]

Sorry if I worded it poorly.

 

Currently what I have access to is an old p4, some old IDE HDs and a 3tb external.

I need to keep costs down to begin with.

What I am asking is if I use 3 IDE drives with the free version for the data I want raided can I also mount and share a external USB drive with the network?

[spants]

an app called Snap allows you to plug in and share a usb drive.

 

I'm running sickbeard/sabnzbd/couchpotato/headphones on my server which used to be a whs server.

The clients are mac/win 7/ and xbmc (openelec via NFS, win7 via smb).

 

Tony

[ubuntuaddicted]

Now this doesn't mean you can't work with you old board just be prepared to shut down add ons when watching movies. I'm sure you'd experience judder if you don't take precautions.

I've seen this mentioned more then once, why would the unRAID slow down when playing a movie? Unless you're playing back the movie actually on a display hooked to the unRAID server it doesn't do much as far processing the video file does it? I thought all the processing power and memory is needed on your frontend media player isn't is?

If anyone can straighten out my  confusion i'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks Ubu

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

[kizer]

I've only seen judder when I was transcoding movies to my iPad. Other than that anything that I just serve plays flawlessly.

 

To get around the jutter I've learned to just encode what I want to watch on my iPad with Handbrake or watch lower Resolution videos.

 

Other than that I've streamed multiple 720 sources to devices in my house at the same time and had zero jutter.

[daniel.boone]

Now this doesn't mean you can't work with you old board just be prepared to shut down add ons when watching movies. I'm sure you'd experience judder if you don't take precautions.

I've seen this mentioned more then once, why would the unRAID slow down when playing a movie? Unless you're playing back the movie actually on a display hooked to the unRAID server it doesn't do much as far processing the video file does it? I thought all the processing power and memory is needed on your frontend media player isn't is?

If anyone can straighten out my  confusion i'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks Ubu

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

 

It's not unRaid that needs to be shut just the SABnzbd add on.  What I've seen on my windows system is the ram and processor are soaked up during the parity check and unrar process. The SABnzbd and download itself itself doesn't take too many resources.

 

It's also possible Linux plays better with these processes and you don't need to do a thing.  Just based on my experience I suspect to get that level of performance you may need a bit better than an IDE based motherboard.

 

Don't let this potential issue set you back. Get that old MB running and try it out. You may be pleasantly surprised.

[shinyunraid]

Thanks for all the responses.

I am just getting into all this and have been reading hours and hours per day for the last few weeks.

I have all the cabling I need to wire my house ordered.(that will be a fun project)

Still trying to decided if I should get a gigabit router or just grab a gigabit switch.  From what I understand that would work fine? All wired computers(mix of 10/100 and gigabit nics) on the switch and then the switch to one of the router ports for internet?

I have messed around for about a day each with openfiler, freenas, whs and unraid.

Trying to decide on what level of protection and amount of storage I really need since all my media will be replaceable.. however I am a hoarder at heart.. and I think the first time I show someone XBMC scrolling through 1000+movies will make it all worth it.

Still deciding on HTPC builds(3) and a server build.

 

All my learning just gives me more options lol.

 

I will say that the community here just from this thread makes me want to lean towards unraid.

[kizer]

As a user of XBMC for years I will say outright you can't go wrong with unRAID.

Run the cach_dirs addon and it will scan your library fast as heck without spinning up your drives when you turn on your XBMC machine set it to scan on turn on and you will never manually scan your library again. 

[ubuntuaddicted]

Thanks for all the responses.

I am just getting into all this and have been reading hours and hours per day for the last few weeks.

I have all the cabling I need to wire my house ordered.(that will be a fun project)

Still trying to decided if I should get a gigabit router or just grab a gigabit switch.  From what I understand that would work fine? All wired computers(mix of 10/100 and gigabit nics) on the switch and then the switch to one of the router ports for internet?

I have messed around for about a day each with openfiler, freenas, whs and unraid.

Trying to decide on what level of protection and amount of storage I really need since all my media will be replaceable.. however I am a hoarder at heart.. and I think the first time I show someone XBMC scrolling through 1000+movies will make it all worth it.

Still deciding on HTPC builds(3) and a server build.

 

All my learning just gives me more options lol.

 

I will say that the community here just from this thread makes me want to lean towards unraid.

if you already have a router and your main concern is transfer rates on your internal network only, then go with a gigabit switch for internal network, then 1 wire from switch to the router IF you don't have a dhcp server on your internal network AND you want each box to be able to surf the interwebz. Someone correct me if I am wrong but most consumer grade ISP providers it would be worthless to get a gigabit router Due to never seeing that type of bandwidth to the interwebz anyway. I understand the gigabit router would help all internal computer talk faster IF they are all gigabit Nic's BUT I am speaking in regards to a consumer who already has a capable router for SPI/NAT/DHCP etc etc which is only 100mbit. Thoughts?

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

[shinyunraid]

Yep that is definitely the way I decided to go.

Got a killer deal on a gigabit router from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QUA6RA/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

The router/gateway I currently have will then just be used for providing WiFi for a couple laptops and phones.

 

The library add-on sounds awesome that was one of my mild annoyances with XBMC.

[Rajahal]

Yep that is definitely the way I decided to go.

Got a killer deal on a gigabit router from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QUA6RA/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

The router/gateway I currently have will then just be used for providing WiFi for a couple laptops and phones.

 

The library add-on sounds awesome that was one of my mild annoyances with XBMC.

 

That's a switch, not a router, but yes it is a great product.  I have one too.

 

What ubuntuaddicted said about not needing a Gigabit router is technically true, but I would highly recommend buying one anyway.  Who knows how your network may change over time (maybe in the future you'll add more HTPCs, VOIP, or some other bandwidth-heavy device).  Having a few extra Gigabit ports available can be very handy.  Gigabit isn't that much more expensive, and it is worth it in my opinion.  I always try to keep my primary desktop computer and my unRAID server connected directly to my D-Link DIR-655 Gigabit router, then I use TrendNET switches like the one you bought for less important devices such as HTPCs, video game systems, and secondary desktop computers.

[shinyunraid]

Ugh yea, I really knew what I meant don't know how i slipped that up

 

I have gone with the switch and cat5e, from what I understand cat6 really wont be worth it.

The HTPCs in this setup will be 2 appletv2s with xbmc, 1 Imac, and 1 windows PC.  And probably something else once we upgrade the last TV in the house to something with HDMI, another appletv2 if I end up liking them.

 

Currently the corner I am having to cut is with storage.

To start with it will simply be a single usb2 external drive hooked up to a computer that can share it as SMB.  Will probably just use the Unraid trial so I can get a little use to it (I know you can mount a usb drive but can it share one as SMB?) Then once I have the funds I will do a full on server.

 

[ubuntuaddicted]

Ugh yea, I really knew what I meant don't know how i slipped that up

 

I have gone with the switch and cat5e, from what I understand cat6 really wont be worth it.

The HTPCs in this setup will be 2 appletv2s with xbmc, 1 Imac, and 1 windows PC.  And probably something else once we upgrade the last TV in the house to something with HDMI, another appletv2 if I end up liking them.

 

Currently the corner I am having to cut is with storage.

To start with it will simply be a single usb2 external drive hooked up to a computer that can share it as SMB.  Will probably just use the Unraid trial so I can get a little use to it (I know you can mount a usb drive but can it share one as SMB?) Then once I have the funds I will do a full on server.

 

I can't speak for whether unRAID can share an externally connected usb hard drive over SMB BUT again, if at it's core all unRAID is the linux kernel and has ability to install the samba package, you should be able to share anything you want no matter how it's connected. Obviously this is limited to a persons knowledge of the unRAID gui (wheather the option exists) but I assume a person can drop to a busybox type command line and do whatever your heart desires IF you have the linux knowledge (uh uh, I do, I do)  LOL  Good luck